Washington : The copyright ownership fight over a world-famous “monkey selfie”, taken by a black macaque after pressing a button on a camera owned by a wildlife photographer four years ago in Indonesia, has now reached the court.
Animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has filed a lawsuit in the federal court in San Francisco against photographer David J. Slater and his company, Wildlife Personalities Ltd., which both claim copyright ownership of the photos that the black macaque named Naruto indisputably took.
The lawsuit demands to direct all proceeds from the famous monkey selfie to Naruto itself, PETA said in a statement released on Tuesday, reports IANS.
Also named as a defendant is the San Francisco-based publishing company Blurb, Inc. which published a collection of Slater’s photographs, including two selfies taken by Naruto. “The lawsuit seeks to have Naruto declared the “author” and owner of his photograph,” PETA added.
